Last Man Standing
by USMC-Sister
Summary: John's current mission is to find Cortana and stop the Prophet of truth from firing the rings and destroying all life. This is proven to be easier than he expected when the help of another Spartan appears.


**Last Man Standing**

_**Introduction**_

John, other known as the Master Chief, was never the same after the fall of his home planet Reach. You would never notice the silent breakdown that ate away his mind, he kept raw emotions hostage, not letting a single one escape.

His home wasn't the only one to fall, no, all his precious brother in arms, his comrades he had befriended during the Spartan II program. All had met their demise during the long fight against the first advance from the Covenant. Sam, Linda, Kelli, James, there were too many to name, but he had remembered them all, an ache dulled in his chest when he thought of them. John was the only one left in the Spartan Program, his life being all about survival. This left him alone, which to him, was much more worse than death.

The fate of the entire universe lay in his hands now, as he races across the universe in search of his only comrade left: Cortana. Without the help of the A.I Gravemind and the Flood would once again engulf the planets in terror, and the prophet would seek the destruction of all race with the firing of the rings. John is the only man fit for the job, and he gladly faces death with every inhale of breath he takes as he goes into the line of battle. Luck being his greatest weapon.

**Chapter 1**

John made his way expertly through the invaded town of Mambasa, killing off each grunt, jackal or brute that dared to stand in his way. Mercy wasn't exactly on the Spartan's mind, a trail of lifeless and mangled alien bodies victim to his stained hands. Static ran through his intercom channel and cleared.

" Chief? Finally a good connection." The feminine voice of lieutenant Keyes broke through. "Get to the town of Voi and annihilate the brute blockade."

"Copy that Lieutenant." He replied, static again taking over the connection. Gripping his assault riffle with one hand, he ran a cross a broken, metal beam that belonged to a highway once before. His destination was close, a mere 10 klicks, which would take 20 minutes depending on the amount of ground troops.

As he neared the highway gates, he took in a breath, not sure of what to expect. Little did he know, he was walking into an ongoing firefight between brutes and marines, who tried to keep the vicious invaders at bay. It was clear that they were on the losing side, however. John acted quickly as he ran silently behind an over-turned semi. He pulled the pin off a grenade from his belt, waited 3 seconds and threw it in the middle of the unsuspecting brutes. It detonated a second later, terrifying screams of agony marked his success. He ran to the marines.

"50 yards ahead, trapped marines in the bunkers, sir." The head marine briefed him, assault riffle held firmly in his bloodied hands. The Spartan assessed their conditions and weapon information, noting that they were all green with excess magazines.

"All right, on my mark, I want half of you to flank the brutes right side, the other half going strait down the middle." He ordered, scanning the grounds before him, nodding in approval. A movement to his upper-left caught his line of vision, followed by four green orbs accumulating in size. His radar had yet to pick up the on-coming enemy, but he trusted his senses more than ONI tech.

"mark!" he yelled, and the restless soldiers split according to plan and flanked the oblivious brutes. He veered off to the left where he saw the orbs, which he could now identify belonged by a quad of grunts staggering in their heavy environmental suits. He held his riffle level to his eye and fired short, three round bursts, the orbs sizzling past him. In 5 seconds flat, the group lay dead, not a bullet had missed its mark. A scream pulled him from his victory.

"They got jetpacks!" the marines ran under the cover of abandoned cement tunnels, brutes suspended in the air above them. He took aim, only to lose sight quickly. He retained his target and pulled the trigger, and the brute plummeted to the ground. It wasn't, however, his rounds that had killed the alien. A thin , white jet stream had started to dissipate in the air. He traced it back to behind the barracks, where two more jet streams sailed in the air and fell two more victims of their precision.

"Flank them" John yelled. The marines ran along side him, bullets spraying at the enemy, sniper rounds making its mark to those who escaped into the air. Quickly, the group made their way towards the cover of the bunkers.

"Don't shoot, it's the Chief!" A female marine cautioned, lowering her assault riffle as the group approached. Dried blood caked her tanned face and a thick layer of mud coated her uniform. She showed no sign of discomfort or pain, but her shoulders sank with a sort of relief and she bowed her head.

"Finally, some back up." Another from her squad sighed, his condition no better than hers. In fact, the entire squad looked as if there wasn't any fight left in them, they stood hunched, heads bowed and grips loosened on their riffles.

"About time someone showed up, thought I was going to have to do all the dirty work." A muffled, feminine voice chuckled. The source walked up behind the female marine and placed a gloved hand on her shoulder reassuringly. " Take a breather, you've all earned it."

John stared. It wasn't like him to be speechless like he was, but the scene that had unfolded before him, sent him over the edge. His breath caught and his head began to cloud with thoughts of every one of his old comrades. Every single one of them had died on the battlefield, he had seen them burn, blown, and spun into the black vacancy of space. So how did it explain the fact that one of his kind was standing a mere three feet away? John , for the first time in his years of becoming a Spartan, was confused.

"Chief?"

He composed himself and assessed the Spartan who cocked their head quizically. The armor was different and slimer than the MJOLINR armor he wore in various ways. Instead of the forest green color of his own, a dark, navy blue masked the Spartan, streaks of white peeked through a layer of dirt. The helmet was shaped in a simular fashion, however the light blue visor was wider and more broad, the shoulder pads covering more of the black matte suit underneath, and the chest peice covering up to the neck holding a K-bar combat knife.

"Chief?" She said again, straitening herself even more. The female marine sat on the opposite side of the bunker with her team and the new recruits that followed John, quietly talking.

"Spartan?"He answered finally, voice flat and deflated. She closed the space between them with a small step, their height-he noticed-identical.

"We have a big problem." Her head tilted towards the opening of the bunker, his gaze followed hers.

An odd shaped pearlescent blue ship hovered 10 meters above the ground, the hull of the ship represented that of a whale, sleek and massive. Two quads of ground troops were supplied, they dropped heavily onto the ground, dirt swirling around their scaled feet, and they raced towards the bunker.

"Assault riffles aren't good at this range." The blue Spartan pointed out, John inclining his head. "Got a plan?" He asked

"When I think of one, I'll tell you." She answered lightly. Underneath her helmet she smiled, perfectly content under the situation, completley in her element. She looked around at their surroundings, formulating multiple situations, eliminating the less efficient, finally settling upon an idea after a short minute.

"ONI-techs developed a high quality artificial image system." she began, waiting to catch his attention.

"A hologram?"

"Yes. Well, a more advanced form. I can set it to run out while you and the marines rush foward." With this, the group of soldiers in the back gathered around. "I can cover you from here. Take cover in the cement tunnels and they won't know what hit them."

John surveyed the area; the brutes that were reinforced spoke rapidly to each other in grunts and mummbles, weapons held gunpoint, and red eyes beaming angrily. Cement tunnels were integrated with the ground to the left side, he formulated her plan further.

"Send the Halogram right, and we'll head left." He said, the group of marines nodding in acknowledgment.

"You got it Chief. Count off and on your mark we go." She instructed while placing her hand on her wrist equipment, gloved hand poised over the screen. John made sure everyone was ready as he faced towards the slope, assault riffle held firmly against his shoulder.

"3...2...1..Mark!"

At the same exact time, an image identical to the blue spartan detached itself and ran towards the right side of the field as planned, the reinforced brutes shot aimlessly at it, the spikes and grenades sailed strait through the ghostly image. The marines and John fired from the left side, taking 3 victims before being forced in the coverage of the tunnels.

Sniper shots rang through the air, taking two brutes that located the marines, and another that was lured out when John ran to the next tunnel. Hopping from one to the next, John was able to take out the remaining enemies, signaling to the marines that the coast was clear. But a familar sound that floated in the air rose panic to the Sniper.

"Dropship inbound! Chief regroup!" She yelled from her position. John and the marines raced up the hill double-time, resting in the back corner of the bunker.

Just as they had, a dropship identical to the one moments ealier hovered just beyond the cliff 50 yards away, their sight being blocked off by the rocks. Panic rose in the marines, they wasted too much ammo in the last wave and were exhausted, shoulders hunched.

A strange vehicle entered their line of vision a few seconds later, hovering above the ground despite its massive stature. The hull was similar to the dropship, but a crane like structure rested on the back of the heavy armored tank. ONI classified it as a Wraith some years ago, and John knew this all too well; it had proven to be difficult to manuver or demobalize these vehicles.

"Spartan, aim for the pilot." He said, but the Spartan was already adjusting her scope level to her eye. She seemed to hesitate however.

"I'll aim for the gunner."She told him instead, finger on the trigger, ready to fire.

"No, aim for the pilot."He said again, more force behind his order.

"The gunner can still fire at a close range."The Spartan explained, barrel of her riffle trained on the brute stationed at the front of the hull.

"It can only fire lateral, it can't take aim this far up the hill."He countered and she snapped her head towards him, not moving the position of her riffle.

"If I miss, then I endager every marine here, _SIR._"She spat hotly.

"Then don't miss." He said, uneffected by her tone. His head faced to the front again, waiting for her to take the shot that would determine them and their companions fate.

The Spartan adjusted the scope while muttering a string of cuss words only audible to him, took aim while inhaling, finger hot on the trigger and fired. The shot rang out, the jet stream landing directly in the middle of the hull, blood splattering the blue, metallic shine of the tank.

"Rah!" the female marine yelled out, releasing the breath she had been holding. The rest of the soldiers relxed and slumped over against the wall, trying to catch their breath and calm down.

"Good work Spartan."John said and ran towards the tank, which fired uselessly and randomly at the armored spartan. He jumped onto the ship and yanked the gunner from his position, a sickening crack signified a broken neck and an instant death of the alien.

"Thought you could use a set of wheels."Lieutenant Keye's voice broke through his COM channel, a shadow hovering above his location made him look up as the second spartan and marines joined him.

A dropship, entirely different from the metallic blue ship that supplied Covenant troops, hovered low to the ground 30 yards away. A vehicle attached to the belly of the ship was let go and landed on the ground roughly, shocks absorbing the impact. Another vehicle was supplied by a second dropship before both dissapeared into the distance.

"Where to Chief?" The spartan said while climbing into the driverside of one, the vehicle dropping a foot with the added weight of her armor. He climbed into the other vehicle, the marines settling into the turret and passenger seats.

"Voi"

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Hey guys, well wasn't that fun? As you can tell, this story is based of the third Halo game, but with a little mix. You'll learn that the new Spartan is someone some of us have already met! Dum Dum Dum. Please tell me your thoughts and ideas, review :D I'm always up for a challenge :3


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